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Banking On The Poor

Overview

Banking on the Poor traces the evolution of Robert McNamara's poverty-oriented redirections at the World Bank from 1968 to 1981.

Reviews

"In producing what will probably be the definitive book on the changing role of the bank during the McNamara years, Mr. Ayres, a Fellow with the Overseas Development Council, interviewed some 300 officials and obtained access to a considerable number of internal documents of the bank which is, as he observes, 'not a noticeably open institution.'

"He describes internal and external political constraints on the World Bank as it developed specific poverty-oriented projects in rural and urban areas worldwide under Mr. McNamara, and speculates that, under its new president, A. W. Clausen... the World Bank is likely to become more conservative. ", Carl Marcy, The New York Times Book Review

"Under Robert Ayres's microscope, the World Bank emerges with the kind of low-key-credit that a cautious reformist intends as high praise. His book is thorough, his approach measured: there are no conspiracies, no monoliths, no big failures (and no big successes, either). It sounds quite plausible, and it is.", Rupert Pennant-Rea, The Washington Post